Vegetable spring rolls

Vegetable spring rolls are my favourite order at Chinese restaurants. Now they’re Hasini’s favourite as well. The other day I asked Hasini what she wanted for next day’s lunch and she immediately declared she wanted Spring rolls. So spring rolls it was last Saturday. Saturdays I live my dream house-wifey life (I hear house wifes smirking, but really). I cook lunch for the family, pick up Hasini from school, serve lunch and wait on them. I really look forward to Saturdays when Hasini’s school is working. 

You could buy spring roll wrappers at stores which makes it much quicker and easier. I made them at home. I used just maida and water to make the spring roll wrapper batter.  The earlier time I made spring rolls, I added a well beaten egg as well which I thought gave the batter more structure and the wrappers were also easier to peel off the pan then. Spring rolls can be made ahead of time which makes them perfect party food. Make the filling, wrappers, fill, wrap them and refrigerate them until serving time. Remove them half an hour before serving time, deep fry in oil and serve hot with ketchup. I am sending these off to Blogging Marathon - Kid's Delight theme and Srivalli's Kid's delight potluck party.

Prep time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins
Makes:  7 spring rolls

Ingredients - filling

Carrots – 3 grated (about 1 cup loosely packed)
Green French beans chopped fine – ¼ cup
Shredded Cabbage – 2 cups
Finely minced garlic – 1 tbsp
Finely minced ginger – 1 tbsp
Soy sauce – 1 tsp
White or Black pepper powder – ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Oil – 1 tbsp + Oil for deep frying

Ingredients – spring roll wrapper

Maida/All purpose flour – 1 cup
Water as necessary
Salt – a pinch
2 tbsp Maida dissolved in a little water to make a runny paste

Method

1.      For the filling, heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and when hot, throw in the minced ginger and garlic. When the garlic starts colouring, add the vegetables and stir around on medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes till they wilt and shrink but are still crunchy. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper powder. Mix well and cook for another 2 minutes for the flavours to blend. Switch off and let cool.

2.      To make the wrappers, make a very thin runny batter by dissolving the maida/all purpose flour in water. Whisk well to remove lumps. Add salt and whisk again.

3.      Heat up a non-stick tawa. When hot, lower heat to low and pour a ladle of the batter on the tawa and spread quickly to form a very thin disc. Once cooked, the edges will start curling up and the centre would have cooked and become non-sticky. Use a spatula to remove the wrapper to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter to make similar wrappers.

4.      To make the spring roll, place about 2-3 tbsp of the filling in the top 1/3^rd portion of the disc. Roll from the top, fold in the sides to make a rectangle, then continue rolling downwards to make a spring roll. Use the flour paste to seal together the edges when rolling the wrapper. Repeat to make more spring rolls. Refrigerate spring rolls for half an hour or freeze for 15 minutes.

5.      Heat oil in a kadai, skillet and when hot slide in the spring rolls (2-3 at a time) and cook on medium-high till golden on all sides. Remove on to absorbent paper. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#33